Apparatus for the relief of dvebility or weakness in ti-ie legs



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEroE.

S. P. DOUGLASS, OF WILLIAMSON, NEW YORK. v

APPARATUS FOR THE RELIEF OE DEBILITY 0R WEAKN ESS IN THE LEGS..

Specification of Letters Patent No. 2,092, dated May 15, 1841.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, STEPHEN P. W. DoUeLAss, of Williamson, in the countyof IVayne and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulapparatus for the relief of persons who are suffering and unable to walkin consequence of weakness or debility in the legs and consequentlyinthe knee and ankle joints; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full and exact description thereof.

Ihe apparatus which I am about to describe I denominate the walking aid.Those persons who are acquainted with the various instruments which havebeen constructed with a similar intention will perceive that there is ageneral resemblance between that which is the subject of the presentdescription and those which have preceded it; and, indeed, this mustnecessarily be the case, as the basis of such supports must be jointedrods, and straps by which they are attached to the limbs. Being myself asuffererV from extreme and long continued debilitv in the legs and feet,I have sought relief from the use of such instruments as had beeninvented by others for the purpo-se of aording it, and having`experienced their defects, I have, by successive trials, been enabled toremove them, and to produce one which, as I verily believe, may be wornwith greater ease and benefit than any of those heretofore const-ructed.

In the accompanying drawing Figure l, I have represented my instrumentas attached to the leg, thigh, and body of a patient, by means of therespective straps employed by me for that purpose. A, A, are jointedstrips, or pieces, of wood, or metal, or of the two combined; andto'these the other parts of the apparatus are afliixed. These pieces arejointed together in the part which comes opposite to the knee; a

joint pin passing thro-ugh them, and through the inner end B, ofthescrew rod B, B, which at B, embraces and forms a part of this oint. Tosustain the knee oint, and at the same time to allow of the requireddegree of flexure, I employ a spring,.which by its tension andelasticity will effect these. objects. In Fig. 1, C, C, is suchV aspring, which, in this instance, consists of several leaves of steel,placed upon each other in the manner of a coach spring. The ends of thisspring bear against the edges of the jointed strips A, A, where theyhave longitudinal,

play, butare retained in place by pins pass -l inglnto grooves, or byany other suitable device. The screw rod B, B, passes through a mortisemade in the leaves of the spring C, C, and the thumb screw D, serves eovto regulate the force of the spring in any 'i required degree. By thismeans a gradual strain may be kept up on the contracted joint of acrooked limb, and in walking an effec-V tual check is provided to thebending of the knee beyond the greatest fleXure intend- 4 second placeof attachment is to the leg, bel low the knee joint. The third is at theknee joint, The fourth is from the upper end of the side strap; whichside strap is attached to the patella cap, to be presently de-' scribed;this fourth attachmentis made by means of Vwhat is denominated the backstrap. The device for making the rst, ork foot attachment, is asfollows. An iron bow, a, a', Fig. 1, is attached to the `lower end ofthe jointed strip A; this iron bow` forms a little more than a quadrantof a circle, so as to bring its end a', which is furnished with a loop,or eye, directly over the middle of the instep. This is shownseparately, with its accompanying straps in Fig. 2. A pad b, o, bearsupon the instep, a strap o, passes around the heel, and a check strap,under the foot; e, e, are straps which serve to sustain the pad o, andits appendages, and from its connection with the eye in the end of a',immediately over the instep, it checks the tendency of the jointedapparatus to twist and move out of place which'it would otherwise do.

The second place of attachment is around the leg, a little belowthe'knee, and this'is effected by means of a broad strap and buckle invthe ordinary way, as shown at E, E, and merely for the purpose of gentlysteadying the apparatus and keeping it near the leg. l f

The third place o-f attachment is at the knee joint, and the manner ofcombining and arranging the parts concerned 4in thisv vattachment is'k apoint ofprimary impor tance. A cap is formed of webbing, cloth, or

other.suitable material, which I denominate the knee or patella cap, asitis to cover, and

to be confined in place, immediately aboveA the patella, or cap of theknee. The patella 30 to any other appendage tothe jointed strips s Thecap is attached to, and maybe said to con-` stitute apart of the stra-p,which I call the side strap; this side strap extends along both thejointed strips A, A, and is aiiixed to them by meansof buckles, `atpointsnear their extremities, allowingtthemto be shifts.` ed so astoadjust the patella` cap perfectly to its place. F, l?, is thelowersection of tion of the jointed strips.

15 primary importance that, at the knee joint,

the sidestrap, which is attached to the inner side` of the lowersection` of the jointed strips, `or pieces, A, A; while the uppersection I:of said strapl Gr, is` in like manner attached -to the upperpart of the upper sec- It is a` point of the jointed portion of thestrips A, A, should `stand oit `from the limb, so as not to come intocontact with, so astomake pressure upon it. Without this precautionthere will` be al frequent chang, irritation,` and' obstruction,produced in and about the knee joint, such` as has caused the disuse ofthe apparatusheretofore employed for sustaining weak limbs, in a verygreat number of cases.r H, H, is the patella cap, and from the `inner orfar side of this a strap passes aroundunder the knee joint, and isbuckled,

as seen at f,to the ^screw rod `B at a -sutli-` cient distance toprevent the strap from touching the back side of the knee or leg, or

so situated as to produce alike result. jointed strips are,of course, soconnected `with `each other at the` part forming ,the

joint, as `totend to stand `oil' from the limb, in the manner`described. Tokeep the pa- `tella cap in place a strap `isattached to aloop g, near its outer edge, and` extends, `like fthe backvstrap, shownat I, I, Fig; 1.

that from its inner edge, to the screw rod B, `after being carried downwithin the jointot' the jointed strips, so` asnot to tend to draw thispart toward the knee oint. By this arrangement of the patella` cap, andits straps, the `outside and back side of the knee joint is left free,there being a space between itand the joint ot' the jointed stripsandthe straps,into which the hand may be readily passed. `The manner-ofattaching the loop to the outside of the patella ca'p'jis shown by Fig.6.

`The fourth attachment of .the apparatus to the limb, and body, is madeby means of back strap is connected to the upper end of the side strap,by a buckle, as shown at J.

The back strap should be made wideso 1as` to give it a good and easybearing. The abl. dominal strap K, is attached toit by buckles,

j l l at each ,end,and serves'to prevent the upper l endsof the jointedstrips from moving back outof their `proper places onthe sides of thethighs, In some cases I `have attached shoulderstraps to the back strap,to prevent all danger of thevdescent' ofthe apparatus,

but `.there are` very few cases in which this will be found necessary,as the side strap, besides its'other'uses,wprevents thelcwer end of thejointed apparatus from descending, and coming in contact withthe ground,and thus `throwing the wearer olf Othis balance.

L, L, is the seat strap, whichis attached to the apparatusa little belowthe hip joint. Its length must beso regulated as to cause the upper endof the jointed apparatus to stand a little in advance of the hip oint,and consequently the abdominalstra K, draws j in a more direct line,with a lig t pressure upon the abdomen, as it 1s also attached at eachend, by a strap and buckle, to theupper ends of the jointed strips A, A,besides being attached to the back strap, as described, and whichpreserves a steadiness to the whole of the upper partof thefapparatu's.The seat strap L, L, should be madequite wide, as `the weight of thebody,.while standing or walking, `rests thereupon.`

Now it will be seen that these several parts j in combination, asdescribed, each part having its respective connection, are so arrangedthat the walking aid `becomes attached to the limbs and body, in such apeculiar manner, as to avoid encircling the limb entirely by any `one`strap, where there is a .heavy bearing, by `which means the circulationof the blood is not impeded, all the large blood vessels being leftunobstructed, by

pressure, the circulation ofthe blood is `free, and the limbs do notbecome. numb by the ,continued use of the` apparatusas in other cases ofsimilararticles. Thus, by examination j lat the foot,` by a strap behindthe heel,

as described, the first attachment being @check strapunder thefoot,`"and a padded strap on the instep, which leaves the ankle 1ree;and the second attachment below the knee, `by a broad strap, slightlytouching only on the inside of the leg, merelyto steady the machine. jThe thirc attachment at the knee isthe patella cap, and the re-?.spective straps, which do not touchthe back ,side of the leg or knee,thepressure being vious'ly;

The `jointed stripsA, A, should` be padded and the knee forthe purposesdescribedpre- For such cases, where weakness in the ankles will notallow of the attachment to the foot, as heretofore described, I provideanother mode, as shown in Fig. 3, by an iron or steel bow V, attachedtothe lower end of `the jointed strips A, A." This iron bow is so bentas toclear the ankle and outside of the foot, and to pass directly underthe center of the foot, where it is rounded to enter the eye of thestaple WV, as shown in Fig. 7, where the staple is represented attachedt0 the plate X, by a head on the side opposite to the eye, but thestaple W, is suffered to play in Il e plate X so as to allow the naturalmotion of the ankle when walking. The plate X is to be firmly attachedby screws to the shoe or boot, before the heel is put on, and the stapleshould be just in front of the heel; the dotted line across the platerepresents the place of the heel, in rear of the staple. A nut Y screwedon the bow V, keeps the staple in place.

In Figs. 3 and 4L are represented spiral and helical springs attached atthe joint of the jointed pieces A, A, for the purpose of obtaining amore gentle, easy and lengthy tension and fleXure, which some casesrequire, instead of the straight springs, (as described,) and whichrender the apparatus more compact and suitable to wear inside of thepantaloons, being so attached as to effect the same ends as the straightsprings represented in Fig. l, while the other parts remain without anysubstantial change.

A, A, Fig. 3, represents the same parts as in Fig. l. M, l/I, are platesforming a part of the joint, and having pins z', e', through them onwhich the rods, or wires j, j, hook. N, is a tube containing a spiralspring, the tension of which may be augmented or les sened by means ofthe nut k. This spring draws upon the rod .7", and the rod j, beingattached to the upper portion of the jointed pieces A, A, the act-ion isto draw them into a line with each other. The rod j, is made fast to theturnbuckle 0, which has a joint pin at Z, and is confined down by abutton m. When it is desired to take the tension ofll the spring and toallow the knee joint to bend, this will be effected by turning thebutton m, and relieving the turnbuckle.

Fig. 4: shows the application of a helical spring for the same purpose.P, is a box containing the spring, which is represented within it bydotted lines, and one end of it is shown on the outside of the box at Q.It may be wound up, so as to have its tension increased, by the head R,of its center arbor. S, is a pall taking into a ratchet T, Fig. 5, onthe opposite side of the box. The manner of attaching, and the actionof, such a spring, are too well understood by machinists to requirefurther description. U, U, is a strap which may be made fast lto thelower section of the jointed pieces A, A, and may hitch upon pins n, n,a, on the upper; this will serve to check and to regulate their fleXure,and prevents the spring fro-m bending too far and becoming destroyed bythe weight of the body in its sudden action thereon.

Having thus fully described the nature 0f my invention, and shown howthe respective parts operate, and having in so doing included parts ofthe said apparatus which are not new, I now proceed to designate thoseparts, or combinations which I believe to be new, and which I desire tosecure by Letters Patent.

I claim-` 1. The application of the springl as sho-wn at c, c, in Fig.l, or of the springs as shown in Figs. 3, and l, for the purpose ofkeeping up a continued tension on the knee joint, and of checking theflexure of the jointed pieces A, A.

2. I claim the manner of forming and arranging the parts by which theapparatus is attached to the foot, that is to say, the combination ofthe iron bow, a, a, with the piece A, and with respective strapsapipended thereto, as herein set forth.

8. I claim the manner o-f combining the side strap, the patella cap, andthe jointed pieces with each other', fo-r the purposes, and in themanner described. I claim, also, in combination therewith, the manner ofconnect-ing the pat-ella cap by straps, with the screw rod B, or withsome analogous fiX- ture, by which the jointed parts of the pieces A, A,are allowed to stand off from theknee joint, as set forth, notintending, however, by these claims, to limit myself to the precisemanner of arranging the respective parts as herein designated, but tovary these as I may think proper, while the same ends are attained bymeans substantially the same. I claim in connection therewith the mannerof attaching the apparatus to the foot to favor weak ankles, asdescribed in Figs. 3 and 7.

4. Finally I claim the manner of forming and arranging the several partsin the peculiar combination as herein set forth, by means of which theapparatus is` attached to the limbs and body, without entirelyencircling the limb at one place; consequently without obstructing thefree circulation of blood, which prevents the apparatus from causing anumbness, or paralyzing effect upon the limbs or body. In short, I claimthe manner of attaching the apparatus to the limbs and body, incombination with its other parts, being constructed and operatingsubstantially as herein described. n

STEPHEN P. W. DOUGLASS. n, s.)

IVitnesses:

I-IOMER DANFORTH, GEORGE NICHOLS.

